Richard Barnes
IN MEMORY OF THE EVER-AFTER.
SUBJECT
TEXT
ALL IMAGES
Photography
Nicky Shortridge
Courtesy of the Artist
Containment Mortality
•
EXPLODED SKULL, HUMAN 2003
•
FLAYED MAN (MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ANATOMY) 2005
•
UNABOMBER EXHIBIT A 1998
In 1998, The New York Times Magazine commissioned American ph o t o g r a p h e r R i c h a rd B a r n e s t o sh o o t t h e s m a l l w o o d e n c a b i n tha t Te d K a c z y n s k i c a l l e d h o m e be f o re h i s a r re s t . Kaczynski, you may recall, is better
known
as
the
Unabomber
who
people
terrified
and
reclusive
killed
three
countless
more in the United States during a
seventeen-year
bomb
campaign that ended in 1995. The mathematician turned philosopher turned militant had been roused
to
defend
individual
freedom – by targeting perceived individual menaces – after seeing
t r a n s ported the dwelling intact
profile
the wilderness around his home
t o a storage facility on an air
backdrop and, in the most well-
devastated by urban development.
f o rc e base in Califor nia, for use
known, from a distance within
In a 35,000-word manifesto,
i n h i s trial.
the brightly lit storage space.
Kaczynski war ned that the cont-
D e monstrating skills of pers-
In that final shot, Unabomber
inued advancement of technology
u a s i on worthy of an FBI agent
Cabin (Sacramento) , the cabin is
would compound the disastrous
h i m s elf,
convinced
stripped of all assoc iations and
impact of the industrial revolution
h i s handlers to cut a hole in
looks like a conceptual piece in
and
“certainly
a
plain
black
human
t h e wall of the warehouse and
a moder n art gallery.
beings to greater indignities and
m o v e the cabin through it, into
“I set that one u p,” Bar nes
inflict
a
says. “It was meant to be an
greater
subject
Bar nes
against
damage
on
the
natural world.” Following
Kaczynski’s
arrest,
l a rge,
empty
room
on
the
o t h e r side. Bar nes treated his
exploded
s u b j ect
a
Joel
the
Shapiro sculpture. I was making
i m a g es he created are a series
the cabin my own, making it
removed his cabin from its re m o t e
o f m ug shots: all four sides of
ambiguous, but at the same time
Mo n t a n a
t h e cabin are captured in stark
alluding to a revered art object.”
and
•
ABOVE
UNABOMBER CABIN (SACRAMENTO) 1998
•
RIGHT
UNABOMBER SITE (MONTANA) 1998
and
of
the Federal Bureau of Investigation mountainside
forensically
version
Barnes says he usually tries
that
to produce work that frees the
questions
subject of its history – which
reactions.
allows viewers to access the
“Art
images on their own terms and
functions
arrive at their own conclusions
levels. I saw that this subject
–
designed
was rich in its implications. I do
photograph
a fair amount of editorial work
MUMMIFIED DOG,
and
CAIRO MUSEUM
but
this to
that
he
particular suggest
an
artwork.
It
provoked and
works on
often
complicated very
personal
best
when
it
multitude
of
a
my
personal
work
captivated viewers and earned
derives from these assignments;
Bar nes the prestigious Alfred
I see something that sparks a
Eisenstaedt Award for Magazine
n e w l i n e o f e n q u i r y. ”
Photography in 1999.
It
explains
why
Barnes
•
OPPOSITE RIGHT
1991
•
BELOW
O n e j o u r n a l i s t , h o w e v e r, w a s
stepped outside the scope of
MEASUREMENT,
disturbed that the images had
t h e m a g a z i n e ’s b r i e f t o m a k e
LARGE STONE, EGYPT
been
a personal trip to Montana to
1991
and a
shown
without
interpreted
way
that
expected.
the
work
Barnes
had
photograph the site where the cabin
had
originally
stood.
described
the
cabin
as
a
“duped”.
The result is a diptych that
re p re s e n t a t i o n o f a “ p a r t i c u l a r l y
presents the structure within
American
an
a clean, bright storage space
s u ff i c i e n c y
a c q u a i n t a n c e o f B a r n e s ’s , w h o
o n o n e s i d e a n d , o n t h e o t h e r,
g o n e h o r r i b l y a w r y. ”
saw one of them hanging on
a mountain forest clearing and
His photographs of the cabin
the wall of his home. “Don’t
“chain-link fence containing
embody these ideas by presenting
you think this is problematic
nothing.”
the
for your children?” she asked,
Speaking to David Osborne
evidence hauled out of seclusion
somehow
a
o f T h e I n d e p e n d e n t n e w s p a p e r,
and exposed in an incongruous
photograph of a rustic house
Barnes commented that, “The
new environment, and its original
could
Unabomber
a re
site as a kind of shrine to the
and
displaced home – both haunted
fetishised.”
by the actions of their former
was
the
be
felt
in not
intriguing
Perhaps
She
context
more response
from
suggesting injurious
that to
their
mental health.
about
Barnes may have been quietly
Te d
satisfied.
In
He
had,
after
all,
succeeded in creating images
how have
a
John
photographs the been
separate Paul
cabin
interview
C a p o n i g ro ,
with
Barnes
ideal and
structure
inhabitant.
of
rural
self-
independence
as
an
The
item
of
photographs
ever so subtly summarise the story of Kaczynski, the absent outsider
whose
celebrity
p e r v e r t s t h e m o s t o rd i n a r y o f objects and scenes. s Discovering
an
artist
and
their work isn’t a tidy, linear experience, unless you’re studying, say, Picasso at school. Like the
fragmented
parts
of
this
article, you hop from a recent work to a series produced years ago; appeal
find and
that
some
others
pieces
confound
you; stumble upon an interview
or d i s c o v e r a n i n t e re s t i n g re v i e w of a n o l d e x h i b i t i o n ; w a n d e r f ro m ins t i n c t i v e t o i n f o r m e d o p i n i o n un t i l
some
sort
of
complete
ap p re c i a t i o n t a k e s s h a p e . And so it is with Barnes. He cre e p s u p o n y o u , i n a n i c e wa y. A f t e r t h e p l e a s u re o f a n ini t i a l l o o k t h ro u g h h i s w o r k , h i s un u s u a l
photographs
continue
to t i c k l e y o u r c u r i o s i t y. “My
work
comes
out
of
do c u m e n t a r y t r a d i t i o n – I h a v e a d e g re e i n jo u r n a l i s m – b u t the d o c u m e n t a r y i s s u b v e r t e d , ” he
explains.
cri t i q u e the y
His
their
a re
photographs
subject
crafted
dis c o m f o r t i n g
matter:
to
o ff e r
insights
and
Pennsylvania expeditions.
un e a r t h l a y e r s o f m e a n i n g . T h e
D u ring
de p t h
A b y d os,
of
this
a r t i s t ’s
intent
archaeological
methods in general. Doug Nickel,
his a
assignments
site
is a s w e e t re v e l a t i o n f o r t h e
the
god
inq u i s i t i v e v i e w e r.
he
experienced
Osiris,
s t r a t igraphic s
process, and of archaeological
dedicated Bar nes time
at
a
former
to
of
photography
says as
phenomenon.
Francisco
Museum
the of
San
Moder n
Art, pinpoints a preoccupation in
He
Bar nes’s work when he likened the
l a y e r,
archaeological
excavation
present
to the medical autopsy, which
time
d i s t u rbing the ancient past, and
at once reveals and destroys its
in Egypt in the 1990s – after
d e e p time intruding on today. He
object of study.
g r a d u a t i n g f ro m t h e U n i v e r s i t y
o b s e rved that the past continues
It
of
t o e x ist in the ever-present.
freshly
B a r nes seems enthralled by
in
the
possible
desert that Bar nes started to
i n a d equacies of the excavation
wonder what would happen to
Barnes
spent
a
lot
California,
of
Berkeley
photographing
excavations
artefacts
the
University
for and
joint
University
– and Ya l e of
strangeness
the
at
curator
a
s a w history revealed layer by witnessed
associate
and
a
was
while
photographing
disinterred
makeshift
artefacts
studio
in
the
•
FAR LEFT
KARNAK #1, EGYPT 1989
•
LEFT
MUMMIFIED HEAD 1995
•
MUSEUM WITH EXCAVATED COURTYARD 1994
t he objects n e x t . W h e re w o u l d
in storage, while a tiny number
they end up? What place and
are on view above. I became
purpose
for
obsessed with wh at lay beneath,
these millennia-old items in the
hidden from view, the rarely seen
contemporary
and mostly forgot ten.”
would
be
found
world?
Wo u l d
t h e y s u r v i v e t h e w re n c h t h ro u g h time? His curiosity led him to
s
t h e E g y p t i a n M u s e u m i n C a i ro ,
•
in which many of the artefacts
Do we need to keep our eye on
w e re l a t e r d i s p l a y e d , a n d t h e n
this fellow? Might he just be
on to other institutions such as
the sort of person who can’t
t h e C a r n e g i e Museum of Natural
resist a sneak peek inside your
BELOW
History in Pittsburgh, the Museum
drawers on the way to use your
PRONE RELIGIOUS
of Comparative Anatomy in Paris
bathroom?
FIGURES
and the Smithsonian Institution
Of
1995
in Washington, in an ever-d e e p e r
Barnes
course
not.
comes
In
person
a c ro s s
a
lot
like his photographs. In fact, you same
would
p ro b a b l y
string
of
use
the
adjectives
to
describe the man and his work: thoughtful,
smart,
m e a s u re d ,
engaging, honourable. The puzzle is that such a warm character does not appear to be interested in photographing people.
“I
like
people,
but
I
don’t do portraits. I relate to objects; they have a rich patina of meaning that I find hard to translate to portraiture.” s A n o t h e r e a r l y p ro j e c t i n v o l v e d photographing
the
re s t o r a t i o n
exploration of the role of the
and expansion of the California
museum in contemporary culture.
Palace of the Legion of Honor
In the introduction to Animal
in 1995.
L ogic ,
of
The building i s a full-scale
B ar nes’s work from the last ten
a
retrospective
imitation of a similarly named
y ears published in September
museum
2 009, Bar nes references author
erected on the site of a Gold
D ouglas Crimp and draws a direct
Rush era cemetery, which was
c onnection between the museum
thought to have been relocated.
a nd the mausoleum, two words
The museum houses a mostly
t hat share a common derivation:
European
“ Museums, like mausoleums, are
and was a gift to the people of
‘ containers of the dead’, great
San Francisco, bestowed by a
w arehouses of objects, a huge
successful sugar merchant and
p ercentage of which lies deep
his wife in 1924.
in
Paris
fine
art
and
was
collection
Excavations of the museum c o u r t y a rd
as
re s t o r a t i o n
part
of
work
the
re v e a l e d
that its foundations had been constructed
d i re c t l y
on
top
o f n e a r l y e i g h t h u n d re d i n t a c t burials,
some
twenty-five the
close
c e n t i m e t re s
surface.
instance,
as In
a
re m o v e d
one
femur
“I
below
became obsessed with what lay beneath, hidden from view, the rarely seen
striking
had
f ro m
as
and mostly forgotten .”
been
s o m e b o d y ’s
s k e l e t o n a n d u s e d t o p ro p u p a section of plumbing that cut s t r a i g h t t h ro u g h t h e i r g r a v e . “This
was
re v e l a t o r y, ”
says
Ba r n e s . “ I f o u n d t h i s p a i n f u l a n d biz a r re . I t s o l i d i f i e d m y i n t e re s t . ” It w a s d u r i n g t h i s a s s i g n m e n t
founders
perpetrators
for Barnes. “The museum was
tha t
the
focal
point
of
all
seemed
of a callous injustice as their
only interested in the selective
Ba r n e s ’s f u t u re w o r k s e e m s t o
knowledge
past.
ha v e c r y s t a l l i s e d .
graves became apparent. This
critical then.”
The discovery of the burials
interpretation carries an added
The
and
the
re s p o n s e
ironic
photographic
to
it
B a r n e s ’s
that
m u s e u m ’s confirmed
of
twist the
the
when
unmarked
you
benefactors
lear n wanted
to
while
thed
institutions:
although
he
was
the
dead
became result
much of
more
B a r n e s ’s
enquiry
is
a
s e r i e s o f s t u d i e s o f t h e u n e a r-
commitment to exploring these
“honour
I
remains
in
titled
serving the living” and had built
Still
Rooms
given permission to photograph
the
The
museum
the finds, the museum did not
Califor nian soldiers who died in
opportunity to display the work
s h a re h i s l e v e l o f c o n c e r n . T h e
World War I. No such glory for
–
b u r i a l g ro u n d b e c a m e a p a r a l l e l
those who fell near this site.
placed conditions on the way
investigation
“Whose
important
it could be shown – but it was
and
personal
museum
to
past
commemorate
is
possibly
&
situ,
Excavations.
passed because
up
the
Barnes
p ro j e c t . B a r n e s b e c a m e a k e e n
and
expendable?”
later exhibited to acclaim at
o b s e r v e r o f t h e c a re t a k e n t o
is one of the big questions
several other venues in the US.
p ro t e c t a n d re s t o re t h e m u s e u m and its contents, and the lack of attention given to the human burials being
outside, t h ro w n
which
into
w e re
c a rd b o a rd
b o x e s a s w o r k p ro g re s s e d . H e describes what he saw as a kind of violation. As at
with Abydos
the and,
excavations later,
the
Unabomber’s cabin, the museum began of
to
crime
represent scene.
a
Visually,
kind its
courtyard resembled the site of a mass execution with exhumed skeletons scattered across the ground. Symbolically, its affluent
whose
is
•
LEFT
BURIAL WITH PIPE 1995
•
ANIMAL LOGIC TRIPTYCH 2005
intriguing,
s
e v e r y d a y,
unexp-
e c t e d l y a p p e a l i n g t h i n g b e f o re .
illusionary qualities it evokes.” Bar nes finds these represen-
H a v e y o u e v e r re t u r n e d h o m e
tations of the natural world, of
and prickled with the sense that
culled animals brought in from
s
someone else has been in the
the wild and resurrected within
space in your absence? Perhaps
“ All
an object appears placed in an
c ontainers,” Bar nes says, and
once
o d d n e w p o s i t i o n o r a c u p b o a rd
o ne way or another it is. Cabins,
He photographs the carefully
y o u a re c e r t a i n y o u l e f t l o c k e d
museums, graves, nests, skulls,
constructed
sets
when
they
i s a j a r. Yo u m i g h t b e re m i n d e d
p acking crates and armatures
are
dismantled
and
of this feeling too, while looking
a re among his chosen subjects
renovated, and often includes
a t B a r n e s ’s p h o t o g r a p h s f o r t h e
a nd settings.
people
f i r s t t i m e . M o s t d o n ’t i n c l u d e
“Container” and “Diorama” –
exhibits.
p e o p l e , b u t d o f e a t u re e v i d e n c e
y et another sort of receptacle –
activity and chooses to open
of human intrusion.
a re two of five chapters in Animal
his shutter on moments that
“I photographed chairs and
L ogic . Their pages are devoted
d e p i c t t h e d i o r a m a ’s f u l l o d d i t y.
my
work
is
about
scenes of the landscapes they occupied,
being at
work He
compelling.
among
observes
the the
•
OPPOSITE
MAN WITH RABBIT, OTTAWA 2007
• LEFT
SMITHSONIAN BEAR 2005
l a d d e r s a l o t w h e n I w a s y o u n g e r, ”
t o photographs of natural history
A g r i z z l y b e a r, s n a p - f r o z e n
B a r n e s s a y s . “ I w a s i n t e re s t e d i n
museums in Europe and the US,
mid-stride,
occupation and the memory of
t aken in states of transition.
inside a packing crate; a small
occupation.” The subject matter
“ I ’ m i n t e re s t e d i n t h e a c t o f
wild cat, a skunk, a few birds
m a y h a v e c h a n g e d , b u t B a r n e s ’s
collecting,
and other items of fauna and
subsequent work still vibrates
I’m
with the same sentiment.
person
in
in front of a woody clearing,
H i s i m a g e s a re s t i l l . T h e y h a v e
these themes, but what makes
a cast of resting performers
p o i s e . T h e y ’ re o rd i n a r y a n d a
my
waiting
l i t t l e b i t o d d . T h e re i s n o t h i n g
look at the phenomenon of the
resume; a man in overalls, on
sensational about his work: you
diorama. I look at the motivation
his knees, attending to a detail
have to look at his photographs
behind
t h e y ’ re
at the edge of a vast plateau,
for a while first, digest them
constructed. I’m intrigued by the
head to head with a pack of
and
then
enjoy
them,
and
d i s p l a y,
certainly who
work
not is
and
only
i n t e re s t e d
d i ff e re n t
how
curation. the
is
why
that
I
i d e a o f t h e s u b j u g a t i o n o f n a t u re
wolves:
followed
absurdist
has thought of capturing that
by the history of this and the
its
re a n i m a t i o n ,
nowhere
flora arranged on a trestle table
finally wonder why no-one else
by
ambling
for
just
their
play
three
theatre
acts
from
photographic series.
to
of
these
•
DIORAMA WITH BOBCAT REMOVAL 2005
• LEFT
MURMUR 1 (FLOW ROOM) 15 November 2005 2006 Bar nes was clear that he wanted
p hotographer on archaeological
to the Unabombe r’s cabin: from
the
e xcavations,”
Bar nes, the gentle observer, to
conservators,
construction
Bar nes
writes
workers and set painters to be in
in
the scenes, to be another element
b ook. “It was at Abydos that I
of the voracity with which we
inside the ‘container’, inanimate,
p hotographed
humans appropriate nature. And
as if prepared for display by a
mummy:
taxidermist too. He didn’t stage
s omeone’s pet, destined (or so it
cabin inside the FBI’s clean and
the shots, but did ask individuals
s eemed before its excavation) to
empty storage space could be
to pause in their work and hold
s pend eter nity in loyal service to
said to represent our collective
a particular position. “My photos
i t s master in the afterlife.”
displacement, our willing alien-
have
ation from the natural world.
long
exposures,
his
introduction
a
my dog,
to
first
the
animal
most
likely
around
He continues: “After a couple
forty-five seconds. The people
o f seasons at Abydos I ... became
take the place of the animals like
i nterested
actors on a stage. They were real
c ollections develop, specifically
participants.”
in
the
way
in
how
they
Kaczynski,
Bar nes’s
the
image
museum
express
the
While
nosing
The other chapters in Animal
relationship between the natural
underground
world
the
uring
h uman presence, within it.”
of
swirling
h u n d re ds
c o n g re g a t i o n s
of
thousands
our
place,
or
the
of
of
the
critic
rustic
s
Logic comprise “Murmur”, feat-
and
extreme
about laboratory
University
Museum
of
of
the at
Michigan
Palaeontology
a
year or so ago, Bar nes came
migrating starlings in the sky
across
s
over Rome, possibly attracted
the
fossilised
remains
of a 38-million-year-old whale.
t o t h e c i t y ’s w a r m t h ; “ R e f u g e ” ,
I t ’s impossible to look at the
It
exquisite little nests constructed
A nimal Logic collection without
sight: great, big bones from its
b y re s o u rc e f u l u r b a n b i rd s , s o m e
d rawing a connection to climate
disassembled skeleton alongside
now
c hange,
disheartened
cast copies, placed in sequence
writer at least. Set against that
right the way down a very long
material; and “Skull”, anatomical
i s sue,
Bar nes’s
and narrow table. Its passage
models,
s eem
to
extinct,
human
and
waste
who as
articulated
exploded
employed building skeletons
skulls,
for
this
photographs
observe
curious
made
through
for
time
an
eye-catching
was
evocative
mostly
c orruptions in our relationship
too: from the bed of a shallow,
animal but human too, used as
with nature; they alert us to the
prehistoric sea to the surface of
teaching tools.
c omplexity and extent of our
a desert in moder n Egypt, and
“A n i m a l L o g i c h a s i t s g e n e s i s
s pecies’ ecological imperialism.
from there to this campus, on
in my time spent working as a
Which, in a way, retur ns us
loan for research work.
•
FAR LEFT
HOODED ORIOLE 2002
•
LEFT
NORTHERN ORIOLE 2002
• BELOW
FOSSILIZED WHALE SKULL MOULD 2009 Instead of unpicking the knot
ery and suspended it from the
A s a p h o t o g r a p h e r, B a r n e s
of
i n t e r p re t a t i o n s
the
ceiling in its armature. The display
gives
c a p t u re
forms part of his 2009 exhibition,
vations with images that are
the m i n a s e r i e s s t i l l s , o n t h i s
Past Perfect/Future Tense, and
as subtle as the ideas they
oc c a s i o n
fin d i n g
by
trying Barnes
a ro u n d to
to
tricky
o b s e r-
to
represents his initial output on this
represent. Bar nes, the artist,
ex p l o re t h e c r a f t o f c o n s t r u c t i n g
late-breaking theme. “Installation
makes juicy concepts tangible.
mo d e l re p l i c a s . H e w a s l u re d b y
is the latest place my work has
Although
the p ro c e s s , b y t h e f l e s h - l i k e
gone to. The whale installation
f e a t u re
mo u l d s a n d c l u n k y a rc h i t e c t u re
came out of Animal Logic: it’s
p e o p l e . I t ’s a b o u t y o u a n d m e :
of s u p p o r t s , b y t h e m e c h a n i c s
about
how we substantiate our fleeting
an d
reveal.
apparatus
decided
form
involved
in
cre a t i n g a c a s t . “Do
you
what Now
replication know
time I’m
and
and
memory
interested extinction
his
people,
work i t ’s
all
d o e s n ’t about
in
p re s e n c e i n n a t u re a n d h i s t o r y,
and
in space and time. He uncovers,
Rachel
I’m working with moulds and the
re c o g n i s e s , d i v i n e s w h a t o t h e r s
W h i t e h e a d ’s w o r k ? S h e s c u l p t s
casts produced from them,” he
overlook
absence. I lived in Japan right
says, as keen as we all are to find
allows us to see it too. Barnes
out of college and I observed
out where this is going.
places us in the void. n
then that the Japanese – a lot of A s i a n c u l t u re s – a re c o m f o r t a b l e with the void. In the US we always want to fill the void. The m o u l d s t h e y w e re c o n s t r u c t i n g i n t h e u n i v e r s i t y l a b t o p ro d u c e t h e c a s t s w e re a b o u t n e g a t i v e space and absence. In this case the absence of the flesh and b o n e , n o w t u r n e d t o ro c k , a n d t h e n e g a t i v e v o i d c re a t e d f ro m the positive.” Barnes had become interested in the contents of the container. He took the scale-model fossilised whale from the palaeontological museum, transported it to a gall-
and
t h ro u g h
his
art
•
PAST PERFECT/FUTURE TENSE: AUTHENTICITY AND REPLICATION 2009 Installation view
Fe l i x S c h ra m m
BREAK ON THROUGH.
SUBJECT
TEXT
ALL IMAGES
Sculpture
Melissa Ratliff
Courtesy of the Artist
Architecture Destruction
and Andreas Grimm Munchen
•
THIS & FOLLOWING PAGES
SAVAGE SALVAGE 2008 wood, plaster, paint, metal, clay Installation view (photos: Knut Kruppa)
• RIGHT
COLLIDER 2007 wood, plaster, paint Installation view (photo: Ian Reeves)
• BELOW
THIS IS NOT A WALL 2007 wood, plaster, paint, metal Installation view (photo: Stefan Rohner) Felix Schramm is a German artist whose installation-based practice blurs
the
boundaries
between
painting, sculpture and architecture. Manipulating the gallery space to warp our experience of it, Schramm uses the forms of architecture to counteract its fundamental reasons for being: its nature as something of use, fulfilling a basic need for shelter, and a psychological need for an environment conducive to the spectrum of human activity. Architecture
becomes
anti-archi-
tecture, or ‘anarchitecture’ to use a term that epitomises the work
of
influential
Gordon
American
Matta-Clark,
artist,
who,
in
1974, famously sliced a house in half with a power saw (Splitting), and whose works from this period commented on the state of decay perceived in American cities. Uncanny,
jarring
to
the
eyes
and mind, Schramm’s large-scale interventions into gallery spaces and other buildings makes you wonder at the immensity of their undertaking, feel the vulnerability of your own body, and think about the instability of our current age. s Can you talk a little about what you think of architecture and what you like about it colliding with sculpture? I immediately think of the work, Partially Buried Woodshed by Robert Smithson*. The hut collapsed by the weight of sand is a moment of decategorisation. The continuity of the form and its content is interrupted and opens new perspectives and a new field to explore. It is this exact moment and state that I am interested in. The
eroded
situation
categorises
what
seemed
be
to
had
de-
previously
architecture
and with
truckloads of earth to illustrate the
geological aspects or aspects of a
idea of entropy. The remains are
landscape. It is possible to push this
now hidden in a tree grove on the
process to a point of formlessness.
grounds of the University.]
enters
To
it
into
demonstrate
a
situation
this
example,
I
build everything out of wood, metal,
How did you arrive at the decision
sheetrock, plaster and paint. I am
to work this way?
• TOP
Felix Schramm
• MIDDLE
IRREVERSIBLE 2003
not interested in finding a new discipline but rather, inserting all of
All my decisions are made during
wood, plaster, paint,
this into the sculpture.
the
I
video projection
build works on a large scale, I am
Installation view
working
process.
When
*[During January of 1970, Robert
obligated to tear them down. It
Smithson, a visiting artist at Kent
is always fascinating for me to
State University, Ohio, created one
observe what happens to a form
of his “earthworks” by slowly burying
when it is being torn or taken apart
an old woodshed under twenty
for the purpose of its removal. Since
•
COMBER I 2005-2006 wood, plaster, paint Installation view
I have no need to store the remains
always in relation to the space they
of the artwork, I use various tools to
appear in. For me, the autonomous
smash it in order to disassemble it.
sculpture does not exist.
Decomposition has the function
I
of taking something away. I find it
separation walls, using the same
very interesting to put the image
technique used by the gallery. I
of the process at the centre of my
also take into consideration the
work, to create openings and see
formal parameters of the building.
what is inside.
By doing this, I create a new
begin
by
building
white
space that maintains a dialogue How much of your work is site-
with the eroded shapes built of
specific?
sheetrock
integrated
into
the
building. It is not clear where the All the elements of my sculptures
work ends and the gallery starts,
are site-specific. Even when I reuse
but all of this is transparent – if you
elements of older works, they are
observe closely, you can see it.
•
The challenge is to transform
creates an unexpected physical
ABOVE
the neutral white cube into an
tension, a pneumatic space.
SAVAGE SALVAGE
inseparable part of the work by
2008
considering the object and the
Whilst on the topic of tension,
plasterboard, metal,
space that surrounds it.
Gaston
wood, clay, paint
In a recent project for the Palais
The Poetics of Space that tension
Installation view
de Tokyo in Paris, Omission, I
exists
(photo: Knut Kruppa)
continued the shape of a round
and
wall from a quarter circle to a
spaces, and he concluded that,
•
Bachelard between
interiority
observed
the of
in
exteriority architectural
half circle. Parts of the sheetrock
“Formal opposition is incapable of
ABOVE RIGHT
stuck out of the wide curved wall.
remaining calm.”
COMBER III
Standing close to it, it evokes the
Do you think about the calmness
2006
feeling that the sculpture is moving
and aggression in your work?
wood, plaster, paint Installation view
towards the viewer. Looking at it from a distance,
I like to create high intensity in the
it seems to push backwards. This
work. Several parts of the work look
•
OMISSION 2009 wood, plaster, paint, metal Installation view (photo: Knut Kruppa)
like it has been turned inside out.
precarious spaces. What do you
From some angles, it rips through
think about this cinematic space of
the viewer, and from others, the
imagination?
work seems to be light and gentle. Exterior and interior elements
It is not that something has ‘just
appear at the same time in the
happened’, but it evokes a feeling
constructed
by
that
something
perforated and fragmented shapes
The
work
that are built out of sheetrock.
sense
Positive
and
space
some perspectives it seems to be
decides
what
feels
frozen, stable; other perspectives
space,
implied
negative the
viewer
psychologically and physically.
of
‘will
already
happen’.
contains
‘movement’
–
a
from
bring a feeling of tension and
•
BELOW & OPPOSITE
movement. The work is a very
COMBER II
It seems as though by putting these
physical spatiotemporal passage.
2006
fragments, shards and wrecks of
Spectators
wood, plaster, paint
building materials into the gallery,
three-dimensional experience. n
you’re making a kind of ‘still life painting’ for our time, where the aftermaths of violent world events are horrifically common and visible in the media. An artist’s statement needs to be like a permeable membrane. With this kind of membrane, you scan the statement with the perception of reality. And if necessary, the working process needs to allow for changes, to be flexible and allow for new aspects to be inserted into the work. Art is a complex hybrid that continues to grow. It progresses and evolves since many visual solutions are not resolved in our times. For the current complex situation, I’d like to find a very direct ‘picture’. It is not describing disaster
but
is
about
conditio
humana and conditio natura. There is a theatrical element to the work where the viewer can’t help but imagine that some terrible, violent event has just happened. This ‘just happened’ feeling is in the room in a very physical way. There
is
a
cinematic
feeling
created, but we are real people walking through these seemingly
are
involved
in
a
Installation view